1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heat exchanger and, more particularly, to a heat exchanger that is capable of smoothly discharging condensate water condensed at a tube and a fin of a heat exchanger.
2. Description of the Background Art
In general, a heat exchanger, a device for heat-exchanging by making two different fluids to contact each other directly or indirectly, is used for a heater, a cooler, an evaporator and a condenser in an industrial field of heating, air-conditioning, driving force generation, waste heat recovery and a chemical process.
Especially, in the heat exchanger used for air-conditioning, when air containing moisture passes through a fin for heat exchange, heat exchanging is performed with a refrigerant being supplied to a tube.
That is, in the heat exchanger, when air containing moisture passes through the fin, which has an enlarged surface to heighten its contact with air and improve heat transmission, heat is exchanged owing to the refrigerant of a low temperature being supplied into the tube.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a heat exchanger in accordance with a conventional art.
As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional heat exchanger includes: a cylindrical receiving tube 101 into which a fluid is introduced there; a plurality of tubes 102 connected to the cylindrical receiving tube 101 at regular intervals in a longitudinal direction and heat-exchanging as the fluid passes thereon; a plurality of fins 110 formed in a longitudinal direction between the tubes and improving a heat transmission performance by enlarging an air contact area; and a cylindrical discharge tube 103 connected to the other end portion of the plurality of tubes 102, and collecting and discharging the fluid which has finished the heat exchanging operation.
FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view showing a portion of the heat exchanger of FIG. 1.
As illustrated, the fin 110 is attached bent at one side of each tube 102. A plurality of bent plane parts 112 are arranged at regular intervals at the opposite side thereof. Louvers 113 are provided on the plane part 112 which are successively bent to make a certain angle to heighten an insulation area.
FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line 11—11 of FIG. 2, which shows one embodiment of the plane part 112 of the fin 110, as the plane part 112 is louver-shaped.
The louver 113 is formed cut with a certain width centering around a central portion of the plane part 112, including central louvers 113a formed to have a certain angle in a gravity direction, not allowing condensate water to be collected thereon, and side louvers 113b formed inclined upwardly and downwardly in a symmetrical manner centering around the central louvers 113a. 
In the conventional heat exchanger, the louver 113 is formed in shaping the plane part of the fin 110 of the conventional heat exchanger. But in a different embodiment, a plurality of slits in a rectangular shape can be formed at regular intervals.
In the conventional heat exchanger constructed as described above, the fluid introduced into the receiving tube 101 is distributed to the tube 102, passes through the tubes 102, is collected into the discharge tube 103 and then discharged outwardly. At this time, as the fluid passing through the tubes 102 and the air passing between the fins 110 installed between the tubes 102 in the longitudinal direction interact, heat exchanging is performed.
When the heat exchanger performs the heat exchanging operation, condensate water is formed at the surface of the tube 102 and the fin 110. Arrows in FIG. 3 show how condensate water is discharged through the louvers. At this time, the condensate water formed at the surface of the tubes 102 and the fins 110 causes generation of air flow resistance in the heat exchanging, degrading the heat exchanging performance.
In addition, since the condensate water condensed at the fins 110 and the tubes 102 is discharged downwardly through the louvers 113 formed at the plane parts 112 of the fins 110, the condensate water discharge time is lengthened, resulting in degradation of the performance of the heat exchanger.